Thursday, December 19, 2013

Overflowing

TigerBlog heard a bad sound coming from the basement the other day.

The washing machine was on, and from upstairs TB could hear a sloshing sound that wasn't quite right. He thought it might be the normal cycle, only to figure out relatively quickly that he'd never heard it before in all the loads he'd done.

When he went downstairs, he immediately saw that there was an issue. The water hadn't stopped filling into the machine even when it went past the point it should have, and it eventually overflowed and starting flooding the basement.

Fortunately, TB figured it out when he did, before it got to be too bad down there.

The moral of the story is that you never want to turn the washing machine on and then leave, figuring you can put the clothes in the dryer when you get back. Had TB done that, the time with the wet vac would have been far longer. In fact, the basement would have been replaced by an indoor swimming pool - inadvertently.

TB counts doing the laundry as one of his best skills. He's certainly one of the great folders of all time.

Doing the laundry is a bit of a pain, and it's one of those chores that never seems to be completely finished. Really, by definition, it can't be, because there's always something that can be washed - towels, sheets, the clothes currently being worn. Everything can't be clean all at once.

Folding clothes for babies is a nightmare. Everything is so small that one load can have about 10,000 items in it. Well, not really, but you get the point.

TB's kids have reached the point where they do their own laundry, which is very helpful. As for TB, his own laundry needs are on hold, at least until this afternoon, when the washing machine is being fixed.

Or at least he hopes it's being fixed. What he wants to hear is that some hose came loose somewhere. What he doesn't want to hear is this: "It's an old machine and isn't worth fixing so go buy a new one."

Less than a week before Christmas isn't the right time to have to purchase major appliances.

TB loves the car commercials where the husband gives the wife the small box and then watches as she opens it, finds a set of keys and gives him a quizzical look. He then points to the driveway, where the brand-new car with the big ribbon is sitting (always in the snow; people in Florida don't do this?).

The implication is that he's just bought his wife a very expensive gift. TB's take is that they needed a new car anyway and so he's really cheap and getting away without buying a real gift.

From TigerBlog's view out of his office door, it's hard to miss the fact that Christmas is around the corner.

Softball coach Lisa Sweeney and her assistant Jennifer Lapicki went around putting wrapping paper on several doors on the Jadwin balcony, including TB's. Beyond the door is the railing, which for the first time in TB's memory has Christmas lights on it.

The railing stretches the length of the balcony, from Courtney Banghart's office on one end to the mailroom on the other. There is one strand of lights that is wrapped around it, with colored lights, not the white ones. TB prefers the colored ones.

TB assumed it was the work of the softball coaches, but it turns out it was actually done by Gary Walters, who has never done that before.

Christmas and New Year's Day are both on a Wednesday this year. It makes the work weeks a bit fuzzy, with the big holidays and Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. TB assumes he won't see too many people around here for the next two weeks.

It's not all that crowded right now, what with people out shopping (or getting their washing machines fixed).

There is only 10 athletic events remaining for Princeton Athletics in the calendar year, and of those 10, almost all - nine - are on the road. There are two men's basketball games in Las Vegas this weekend, two women's basketball games next weekend at UVa, two men's hockey games in Florida after Christmas and three days of wrestling that weekend as well.

The only remaining 2013 home event is a New Year's Eve afternoon men's basketball game at noon against Kent State. TB is interested in seeing what attendance for that game will be.

And so, before TB runs out of here to get the washing machine taken care of, he leaves you with this question:

The basketball game against Kent State is the last home athletic event in 2013. How many home athletic events did Princeton have in 2013 across all sports?

This takes into account all home events that counted, so exhibition games and scrimmages are not on the list. Also, if the men's heavyweight rowing team had a home event with three schools competing across five different boats, that all counts as one.

Brad Pottieger, Princeton's Manager of Intercollegiate Programming, very nicely took the time to figure this out for TB this morning.

Give up? TB's guess was 252, and he wasn't that far off.

The answer is 226.

As in 225 down, one to go, 12 days from now.

And with that, it's time to find out if TB will have a new washing machine by then. He hopes not.

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